Ed Christian's World

Serve Even When Discouraged – Why We Pray…

I am often asked why do we pray when prayers never seem to be answered? Why should I pray for him or her, all they do is cause me problems? What good does prayer do anyway?

Prayers are answered, as most of us realize and many times the answer come pretty fast. However, God does answer prayer on His time frame and that may mean it could be awhile before we see results or an answer. Many times He answers and we just aren’t listening.

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22

When it comes to praying for someone who challenges you, I am often lead to quote a minister friend of mine: When you pray for anyone you tend to modify your personal attitude toward him. You lift the relationship thereby to a higher level. The best in the other person begins to flow out toward you as your best flows toward him. In the meeting of the best in each a higher unity of understanding is established. – Norman Vincent Peale

Prayer is sort of a miracle drug, not only does it bring results to the person you are praying for, it also lifts your spirits at the same time. Through prayer I’ve learned never to under estimate the power of God! His compassion and love is overwhelming to us here on earth, and it is through His love we are even here. He is the referee of our troubled hearts and the source of all our joy.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Prayer is our medium to talk with Him and the gentle whispers and nudges come from Him in answer. He will listen to our cries of sorrow and the tears of joy. He is always there to provide an answer or a path of guidance and He never turns a deaf ear.

As for me, I enjoy the quiet meditation and conversation we have daily and look eagerly forward to where He leads me. God has been my Co-pilot since my teenage years and we have been down many paths together. All through faith and prayer.

When I was just a toddler I was taught this God Prayer by Grandfather on the reservation. I offer it to you.

Holy Spirit, we come to you
Holy Spirit, guide us through
Holy Spirit, we know you in a humble way
Teach all to kneel and pray

Holy Spirit, guide our path
Holy Spirit, rescue everyone of the coming wrath
Holy Spirit, teach us wisdom
Holy Spirit, may we be forgiven

Holy Spirit, give us courage
We shall not be discouraged
Holy Spirit, come into our hearts
We shall never depart.

Amen

Are your prayers answered? Better yet are you listening to His answer?

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Anatolay…

Anatolay, a name given to Jesus by the rabbis. Centuries before Jesus walked the earth, the rabbis began translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. The resulting Greek Old Testament was called the Septuagint.

In the Septuagint, Zechariah 6, the rabbis gave the coming Jesus, an amazing name “Anatolay,” which means “the rising,” “the sunrise,” and “the dawn.” He would be the rising if He rose, and if He made us rise.

His rising would mark a new beginning for creation for all who receive it… it would be the new sunrise, the new dawn. So only one can be called “Anatolay,” the Rising, the Sunrise, and the Dawn… Yeshua, Jesus.

For not only did He rise, but He makes us to rise to new life. He gives a new dawn, a new sunrise, the power of the new birth. If you are in Jesus, you are in Him who is called ‘Anatolay.’

So rise, for He is your Rising; be made new, for He is your Dawn, and shine, for He is your Sunrise. He is your Anatolay, the Rising, the Sunrise, and the Dawn.

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Malachi 4:2

Think of what areas in your life you need to rise in – then by the power of Jesus, the Anatolay – Rise!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Good and Good For You…

Research from Purdue University revealed that the number of people who report excellent health is nearly 50% higher for those who attend church regularly over those who don’t.

Research from John Hopkins revealed that regular attendance in worship services yielded benefits to the attenders in everything from heart disease, tuberculosis, cervical cancer, chronic bronchitis, cirrhosis of the liver, suicides, and fatal one-car automobile accidents.

How much is that worth in medical bills, treatment, surgery? In the Bible, it is written, ‘Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together…’ That was written 2,000 years ago. Only in the past few years has it been discovered that this is also good for your health.

You don’t have to understand everything God says. You don’t even have to agree with it. Just do it and you’ll be blessed. If God said so, then it’s right and you’ll also end up being blessed in the end.

Go worship, fellowship, and do those other things that the Word of God says and that you know you need to do because it’s true. God is good and all good is for you.

My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Proverbs 4:20-22

Sign up today for the good health benefits that you’ll receive by not neglecting to worship and fellowship with others. Believe God and be blessed.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Not What Was, But What Is New…

It is written, “If anyone is in Jesus, he is a new creation…” When you come to Jesus, you become new. That’s part of the truth, but not all. It’s not what the Scripture says. The Scripture doesn’t say, “he becomes a new creation.” The Scripture says, “he is a new creation.”

There’s a difference. If you only become new, at one point, as when you first come to the Lord, then you might stop being new after a while, and start getting old in Jesus, which is what most believers do. They lose that excitement, that…newness.

Rather it says, “If anyone is in Jesus, he IS a new creation.” That means you ARE a new creation all the time. It’s the present tense. You read that Scripture right now. So right now…you ARE a new creation.

The power of God never gets old. The New Covenant never stops being new. Live as if salvation were new to you. Live as if you just got filled with God. Live as if you just became new, and you will be. For if anyone be in Jesus, he IS a new creation, and that’s good news!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Think about it – just as when you first got saved yesterday – today, you ARE just as much a new creation. Walk in the newness of life.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

An Angel’s Greeting…

Suddenly, a malakh, a messenger, an angel of the Lord appears to a young man named Gideon and says to him, “Gideon, you valiant one.” Now Gideon doesn’t feel very valiant.

He’s living in fear and oppression, just like the rest of them. He hasn’t done anything worthy of being called valiant. Yet the story of Gideon, of victory and breakthrough, begins with the words, “Gideon, you valiant one…”

You too may be living a life that isn’t one of victory. Victory begins with faith in God to make you victorious. Your victory begins when you believe God’s Word and God’s power concerning you and your life.

The victory begins when you stop looking at your problem and you start looking at the power of God to change, transform, and empower you to overcome the problem.

You may not be a Gideon, someone whose name means ‘warrior.’ You don’t have to be. The Word of God says that you are better than that. In fact, you are ‘more than a conqueror.’

Work on believing that, and you, by the power of God, will overcome. You… you valiant one!

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Judges 6:11-12

Believe God for the victory that you will receive today as you look to Him in faith.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

When A River Is Not A River…

A river isn’t a river when it stops flowing. If a river stops moving, whether by freezing or by becoming stagnant, it’s no longer a river.

The life of God in us is compared to a river – rivers of living waters flowing out of our innermost being. If you stop flowing in God, your walk will become stagnant or frozen.

Therefore, if you want to be really alive in God and be filled with the abundant life of God, you can’t stay the same or you’ll get stagnant. You have to get going and flowing. You’ve got to keep growing and changing into His image.

You might be all frozen up right now. In the power of God, start breaking the ice of your spiritual rut. Break the ice of your worship. Ask God to lead you. Do what you know He’s leading you to do.

Break the ice with that person you haven’t forgiven or that unsaved stranger and tell them about God’s love. Get moving, get flowing, break the ice, and the river will flow. Because the abundant life is a river, and a river must flow.

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. John 7:38

Become an “ice breaker” today. Get it flowing and keep it moving in the power of God.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Ark Weapon…

If you’re going through a struggle, not overcoming, and it seems as if the enemy is stronger – learn the secret of victorious warfare from the armies of Israel. They would march into battle being led by the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark represented God’s presence which is crucial to victory. When you battle the enemy, don’t fall into the trap of focusing on him. Get your eyes off the enemy and onto God. Keep the presence of God first in all things and let His presence lead you.

When you’re dealing with that problem, it’s easy to get caught up and dwell on the problem. If you really want to overcome that problem, then you have to get your eyes off the problem and onto God, who is the solution.

You don’t overcome the problem with the problem. Do you overcome the flesh by focusing on the flesh? No. You overcome the flesh by being led by the Spirit… the Presence of God… the Ark.

In the midst of the problem, keep your eyes on the Ark. Be led only by His Presence, and by that, you will have your victory.

Read Joshua 6:1-20

Allow the Presence of God to take the lead today and don’t let your eyes divert back to the problem; instead keep them on the solution.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Serve With Loyalty – Always…

We live in an anti-always culture. It’s based on constant change. The only thing that’s permanent in our culture is that there’s nothing permanent in our culture.

What’s in today is gone tomorrow. Our attention spans are shorter and shorter. Thoughtful discussions are replaced by sound bytes. Family dinners are replaced by fast food.

An anti-always culture, in turn, produces people who always lack the quality of always, the quality of consistency, of endurance, of sacrifice, of faithfulness, of stability, of integrity, and of an inner core of morality, that which can never be moved.

That’s why it’s so crucial that we hold to what never changes. For we have an always faith, an always book, an always truth, an always Redeemer, an always Friend, and an always God.

Buck the trend, fight the system. Take what is disposable, and dispose it. Be done with that which is made to be done with. And base your life, your convictions, your ambitions, your pursuits, your everything on that which is always.

For what is good and real is not disposable. Do this… and you’ll have an always hope, an always love, an always peace, and an always joy.

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19

Today, seek to put less emphasis on that which is temporary – and root your heart and mind on the things which are eternal.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The House 0f Matthew…

There are two kinds of holiness. The first is the kind that avoids unholy people, unholy places, unholy situations. Now if something would cause you to stumble you need to avoid it. But this holiness is not enough; for it is only a defensive holiness.

Jesus, was of the second holiness. The holiness of Jesus was not the kind that avoided unholy people, but that which touched them. He didn’t forsake sinners. He was called the Friend of Sinners. He loved them, and by His love and grace made them pure.

For if He had avoided unholy situations, He would have never come to earth because this planet is one big unholy situation. But the true Light doesn’t have to hide from the darkness. It can shine in the darkness, and by its shining overcome the darkness and turn night into day.

In the same way you can’t forsake those people who dwell in darkness, or separate in judgment from them. Do not be conformed to them… yes. But transform them by your prayers, by your forgiveness, and by the love of God within you. For you are of Jesus and Jesus is of the second holiness.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5

Today be a light that shines in the darkness.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Love Like A Vow…

People fall in love. And if they really love each other, they get married. They face each other in the presence of others and exchange vows. But why? If you’re in love why do you have to make a vow about it?

Love is more than a feeling. True love must last a lifetime. And that’s why marriage is not based on the feeling of love, but on the vow of the love. That the one making it is choosing to love whether one feels it or not, in good times and bad.

It means that when one doesn’t have love anymore… one will choose to love anyway. This is real love, sacrificial and Jesus-like. So you don’t feel much love for your spouse today? Love them anyway.

It’s the same with you and God. Jesus didn’t feel like going to the cross. He chose to. And He made a covenant with you. His love is good in good times and bad times. So your love must be to Him this way. You don’t feel it?

It’s Okay. Love Him anyway. Be faithful anyway. Follow Him anyway. For feelings come and go; but true love is forever.

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children. Psalm 103:17

Is there a vow or promise in your life you’ve broken or haven’t fulfilled? Is it of God? Then take a step today to fulfill it.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed